


Down Payment

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Comment Fic, F/M, Fluff, Het, Romance, not remotely canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 11:48:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11850939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: "Sweetheart, you're bleeding.""Tell me something I don't know."





	Down Payment

**Author's Note:**

> Theme: free for all  
> Prompt : author's choice, author's choice,  
> Sweetheart, you’re bleeding,  
> you tell me, as though  
> somehow I didn’t know.

As always after a skirmish with the Big Bad of the week, Joe insists on getting stitched up last. It used to be because he was more worried about his kids' injuries than his own, wanted them to be taken care of first. More recently, it's been because he gets to spend a little extra time with Caitlin and, given his kids' mixed reactions to the change in their relationship, they're usually only too happy to book it and leave the two of them alone. 

That's what's happened tonight and as Caitlin stitches up the cut along Joe's hairline, he can't help but notice that her jaw is set a little more tightly than usual, that her hand is trembling slightly, something he's never seen it do before. It's weird, because yeah, the fight had been bad, but in terms of what they've been through, they've definitely had worse. He doesn't ask her about it, figures he'll get it out of her later at her place but when she finishes his stitches, snips the thread, she doesn't give him her usual smile and promise to kiss him better later. 

Instead she braces herself against the gurney with one hand while her other goes to her side. She bends over, lets out a little noise that she hastily stifles and he's on his feet before he can remember moving, lifting up her shirt. He makes his own noise at the large bandage he sees wrapped around her waist, the scarlet stain seeping through the pristine white. 

"Sweetheart, you're bleeding." 

She narrows her eyes and glares at him. "Tell me something I don't know." The second the words leave her lips, she closes her eyes. "I'm sorry." Opening her eyes again, she looks down at the bandage, sucks in a deep breath. "OK, it was not this bad an hour ago." 

Joe slips an arm around her waist and she leans into his shoulder. "Guess it's true... doctors do make the worst patients." 

He knows she's in pain but he gets a lot less worried when she rolls her eyes at that. "I can take care of it," she says and his jaw drops. 

"You're not going to stitch yourself-"

"Are you going to do it?" His stomach flips at the thought of it and she nods. "Thought not. Look, this isn't the first time..." She winces, clutches at her stomach again. "It'll be fine." 

He looks at her, then looks at the wound, weighing it up. He could bring her to a hospital but that would mean a delay in treatment, not to mention a painful car journey. Or he could let her do what he knows she's done more than once, even if he doesn't like it. He meets her dark eyes and makes his decision. "Sit up there," he says. "Tell me what I need to get you and where it is." Relief floods her face as he helps her sit and he steals her usual line. "I'll kiss you better when we get home." 

A pained smile creeps across her face and it might even be from his cheesy line. "Can I get a down payment on that now?" 

He grins, brushes his lips over hers. "No problem."


End file.
